The Presidency on Tuesday disclosed that the person who leaked
President Muhammadu Buhari’s draft speech hours before he delivered
his address to the nation on Monday night, has been traced.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi
Adesina, made disclosure when he appeared on This Morning programme
of TVC News.
The version released was full of errors and was already
circulating on social media before the actual broadcast to the
nation.
Asked to clear the confusion on the lockdown where some
newspapers carried out different date, the Presidential Spokesman
said: “There is just one authentic copy of the broadcast which is
the one released from the media office. But then, I recognise that
a couple of hours before the broadcast itself, a copy of the
purported speech had been circulating particularly on WhatsApp. If
you compare the two, yes there are some similarities but then there
are also wide differences.
“You have just mentioned the effective day particularly of the
gradual easing of the lockdown. What happened was that somebody got
hold of the initial draft of the broadcast and played hanky panky
with it by releasing it through the social media. If you know the
processes that a broadcast goes through before it gets recorded –
the script will originate from the relevant government agency,
department, parastatal of ministry, whoever heads that agency,
ministry or parastatal sign up on it and then they sent it to the
presidential office.
“When it gets to the presidential office, it gets through a
number of hands again, because the President’s thoughts must be
infused and injected into that draft. There are some things that
may be in it that the President may completely not agree with.
“Finally, it comes to the media office, and I sign on it which I
also did yesterday before the broadcast was recorded – I signed on
the final copy before the broadcast was recorded.
“So some hours before the recording was played back, I saw
something circulating on social media, I knew that that was not the
copy that I signed off on. Then we began to investigate. It has
been found out that the original script from inception was what
somebody laid hands-on and released to the social media.”
Speaking on some mainstream media reporting from the leaked
speech, Adesina said: “Well, mainstream media knows how we release
our statements – whatever documents that we are releasing. They
should know how to authenticate it. It comes from the media office.
So if any mainstream media is now taking its information from the
social media, that mainstream media is to be blamed because we duly
released the authentic copy of that broadcast by 8:06 PM. So the
mainstream media should not have depended on a leaked copy which
turns out to have many discrepancies compared with the original and
final copy. “
On the reopening of worship centres and schools and whether it
is a bit hasty considering the lives of the children, the
Presidential spokesman said, “what Mr. President said yesterday was
that, from Monday, May 4, there will be a gradual opening up and
what that means is that the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 will
give a guideline on what can be done and what can’t be done under
that gradual easing up.
“Remember that the President stressed yesterday that some other
things will continue like social distancing, not congregating for
religious events – it’s on the broadcast yesterday. But the
Presidential Taskforce will continue to advise on how we can open
up and return to normal life gradually.”
Asked if the same rule applied to schools and school children,
Adesina said, “yes but if you look at what the Army did about a
week ago, it opened up its schools but not at every level. Those
who are in senior secondary schools preparing for WAEC are supposed
to return to school to write their exams and he said gradually it
will go down to different grades. I don’t want to preempt what the
guidelines of the Presidential Taskforce will be like but
definitely, there will be a guideline on how schools can begin to
reopen. It may not be the whole school because if a school has a
population of one thousand it may have an effect. But those who are
going to write WAEC are the ones to resume.”
The Presidency on Tuesday disclosed that the person who leaked
President Muhammadu Buhari’s draft speech hours before he delivered
his address to the nation on Monday night, has been traced.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi
Adesina, made disclosure when he appeared on This Morning programme
of TVC News.
The version released was full of errors and was already
circulating on social media before the actual broadcast to the
nation.
Asked to clear the confusion on the lockdown where some
newspapers carried out different date, the Presidential Spokesman
said: “There is just one authentic copy of the broadcast which is
the one released from the media office. But then, I recognise that
a couple of hours before the broadcast itself, a copy of the
purported speech had been circulating particularly on WhatsApp. If
you compare the two, yes there are some similarities but then there
are also wide differences.
“You have just mentioned the effective day particularly of the
gradual easing of the lockdown. What happened was that somebody got
hold of the initial draft of the broadcast and played hanky panky
with it by releasing it through the social media. If you know the
processes that a broadcast goes through before it gets recorded –
the script will originate from the relevant government agency,
department, parastatal of ministry, whoever heads that agency,
ministry or parastatal sign up on it and then they sent it to the
presidential office.
“When it gets to the presidential office, it gets through a
number of hands again, because the President’s thoughts must be
infused and injected into that draft. There are some things that
may be in it that the President may completely not agree with.
“Finally, it comes to the media office, and I sign on it which I
also did yesterday before the broadcast was recorded – I signed on
the final copy before the broadcast was recorded.
“So some hours before the recording was played back, I saw
something circulating on social media, I knew that that was not the
copy that I signed off on. Then we began to investigate. It has
been found out that the original script from inception was what
somebody laid hands-on and released to the social media.”
Speaking on some mainstream media reporting from the leaked
speech, Adesina said: “Well, mainstream media knows how we release
our statements – whatever documents that we are releasing. They
should know how to authenticate it. It comes from the media office.
So if any mainstream media is now taking its information from the
social media, that mainstream media is to be blamed because we duly
released the authentic copy of that broadcast by 8:06 PM. So the
mainstream media should not have depended on a leaked copy which
turns out to have many discrepancies compared with the original and
final copy. “
On the reopening of worship centres and schools and whether it
is a bit hasty considering the lives of the children, the
Presidential spokesman said, “what Mr. President said yesterday was
that, from Monday, May 4, there will be a gradual opening up and
what that means is that the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 will
give a guideline on what can be done and what can’t be done under
that gradual easing up.
“Remember that the President stressed yesterday that some other
things will continue like social distancing, not congregating for
religious events – it’s on the broadcast yesterday. But the
Presidential Taskforce will continue to advise on how we can open
up and return to normal life gradually.”
Asked if the same rule applied to schools and school children,
Adesina said, “yes but if you look at what the Army did about a
week ago, it opened up its schools but not at every level. Those
who are in senior secondary schools preparing for WAEC are supposed
to return to school to write their exams and he said gradually it
will go down to different grades. I don’t want to preempt what the
guidelines of the Presidential Taskforce will be like but
definitely, there will be a guideline on how schools can begin to
reopen. It may not be the whole school because if a school has a
population of one thousand it may have an effect. But those who are
going to write WAEC are the ones to resume.”